Garage Door opening problem.

Need some advice/help/info please.

My home is 6 yrs old, with a 16 x 7, 5 section steel garage door, and a 1/3 hp AccessMaster chain drive opener. Several days ago, it started having problems opening. It would rise up about a 1/3 or 1/2 of the way up, then stop. After a few tries, it would finally open all the way. It seemed to be intermittent at first, but now it's happening all the time and getting worse. After spending a major part of yesterday greasing all the joints, rollers, springs and chain, nothing seemed to help. Today I took the opener apart and found nothing broken or stripped, no plastic or metal shavings anywhere. When the door is disconnected from the carriage, it's opens easily without any hangups. Same goes for the opener when it's disconnected from the door, it will cycle through without issues. I've tried adjusting the settings, unplugging and resetting it, and everything else I can think of. ARGH...

Garage Door opening problem.

Been here, seen this. You probably opened the door manually like most people would do: by raising it from the bottom, sort of pushing it up. That's not the way your auto opener works. It pulls. BE VERY CAREFUL if you do this, actually have some help: Try standing on a small/short ladder and pulling the door open as the auto opener would work. I've done this many times and found doors which would hang up this way when pushing them up would work just fine. I'm also not a fan of lubing the tracks the door moves in. I do clean them out, but do not lube them. Any lubricant is just something to hold dust/dirt in place to me. I do/have applied a drop or two of oil to the rollers in the wheels. On units with the round rod type guide I like to clean them with a fine emery cloth, then wipe them with a rag with a few drops of oil.

Garage Door opening problem.

Thanks for the response, but I've tried opening the door by both pushing and pulling. I thought about the same thing you said, so I tried simulating the opener by pulling the carriage. I parked my truck under the track and walked along while pulling, and everything still went smoothly, just as when I pushed from the bottom. No hangups anywhere. The opener was pulling the door about halfway up, then a third, and now it's getting 6 inches or maybe a foot before stopping. Anything else I could try before replacing the opener?

Garage Door opening problem.

There isn't any play in the wheels, everything there is solid.
Tracks and rollers haven't been touched except for what I've done the past few days.
I've tried making force adjustments, but mothing changed.

My neighbor has worked with garage doors in the past, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
He is guessing it's the motor going bad and suggests replacing the opener.

Garage Door opening problem.

Sounds like the door itself is operating properly. If you have turned the opening force adjustment up all the way and it still acts up, then replace the opener. Try and get an opener through a local garage door company. They sell genies and liftmasters with one piece tracks, not like the openers in the big box stores that have multiple piece tracks. I normally hang liftmasters now after hanging genie promax's for years. I like the LM better. 1/2hp chain drive is a good unit. 3/4hp belt drive in the elite series is top of the line, very quiet.
Mike Hawkins

Garage Door opening problem.

Hey Mike, thanks for the help! I bought a new opener, and got the Liftmaster belt drive. You weren't kidding, that thing is almost silent!
Very happy with it, and thanks for the recommendation. The install was easy, and solved all my problems with the door.